[WikiEN-l] The WP Challenge: Healthy Collaboration

[Fred Bauder]

> on 1/18/11 2:10 PM, Fred Bauder at fredbaud at fairpoint.net wrote:
>
>>> The importance to the individual of collaborating within a group. And
>>> the
>>> importance to the group in recognizing, and nurturing, the individual.
>>>
>>> From:
>>> "Amy Chua Is a Wimp"
>>> By DAVID BROOKS
>>> Published: January 17, 2011
>>> NYT
>>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html?nl=todaysheadlines&e
>>> mc=tha212
>>>
>>> "Most people work in groups. We do this because groups are much more
>>> efficient at solving problems than individuals (swimmers are often
>>> motivated
>>> to have their best times as part of relay teams, not in individual
>>> events).
>>> Moreover, the performance of a group does not correlate well with the
>>> average I.Q. of the group or even with the I.Q.'s of the smartest
>>> members.
>>>
>>> "Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie
>>> Mellon have found that groups have a high collective intelligence when
>>> members of a group are good at reading each others' emotions ‹ when
>>> they
>>> take turns speaking, when the inputs from each member are managed
>>> fluidly,
>>> when they detect each others' inclinations and strengths.
>>>
>>> "Participating in a well-functioning group is really hard. It requires
>>> the
>>> ability to trust people outside your kinship circle, read intonations
>>> and
>>> moods, understand how the psychological pieces each person brings to
>>> the
>>> room can and cannot fit together."
>>>
>>> This also presents to how "home schooling" can produce the
>>> socially-challenged.
>>>
>>> Be healthy,
>>>
>>> Marc Riddell
>>
>> Heh,
>>
>> All backwards, her children, hungry for safe opportunities for social
>> interaction, will be sitting at home editing Wikipedia most evenings.
>> Nightclubbing and ski weekends is just not going to work for them. We
>> can
>> look forward to substantial contributions to math and music.
>>
>> Fred
>>
> And you consider Wikipedia, right now, to be a "safe opportunity for
> social
> interaction"!? Please take a closer, more-objective look, Fred.
>
> Marc

Everything is relative, compared to a Rainbow Gathering Wikipedia is a
piece of cake. We have more than our share of people without social
skills, at least when they start editing. That is part of what the
internet is about.

Not that there are not people who will NOT be socialized; some notable
Wikipedians fall into that category.

Fred